not enough aircraft ... too many gaps
Dear Biggus,
just to ad to your statement,
"the UK government is still doing..... "fisheries patrols, environmental monitoring etc etc.... using aircraft, but in a far more efficient way than having MOD own and run their own aircraft for the purpose..."
They are not as efficient as you may think.
Do you know that there were no aircraft available for the Fisheries Patrols in England over the recent winter period? One of the two available Scottish Fisheries Patrol aircraft was called in to cover the gap.
What do you think, are two Cessnas enough for the entire UK fisheries areas?
What sort of signal does this send out to those who view our shores as being vulnerable?